Tough to be Tender
by blueowls
Summary: Tina x Brittany. //Tina flips to the next page in her book, but then there's the sound of chair feet scraping on the floor and there are knees knocking against her own as a hand pushes her book down into her lap.//


**Author Note: **None.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Tough to be Tender**

Tina slouches in her chair, trying to block out the sounds of Rachel warming up, Mercedes and Kurt collaborating on their latest duet idea, and Quinn and Puck arguing about money and ultrasounds on the bleachers. Tina flips to the next page in her book, trying to follow de Beauvoir's train of thought—and that's hard to do in a silent library, let alone a noisy room—but then there's the sound of chair feet scraping on the floor and there are knees knocking against her own as a hand pushes her book down into her lap.

"Is that about hermaphrodites?" Brittany asks, fingers crinkling the page, and Tina looks up, only to lean back in her chair as much as she can once she sees just how close Brittany is.

"W-w-what?" Tina says, and that dumb stutter makes an appearance like it does whenever she's caught completely off-guard.

"Your book," Brittany repeats, cracking her gum and smiling, and Tina almost wants to close her eyes so she can stop looking at her. She goes with looking back down at the book instead, and she puts a hand on Brittany's briefly to lift it up and guide the book out from under her hand.

"No," Tina says, holding up _The Second Sex_, cover facing away from her, and Brittany tilts her head to the side, like she'll understand it any better by seeing it crooked. "It's a famous book about feminism."

"Madonna," Brittany says with a knowing nod, and Tina smiles nervously, looking around because Brittany never goes anywhere without Santana, and she really doesn't want Santana to catch her with her knees pressed up against Brittany's as Brittany completely violates her personal space.

"No offense, Brittany," Tina says as kindly as she can. "But what are you doing here?"

"I have a proposition," Brittany says quietly, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, and Tina looks around again—just in case—before tilting her head forward to better hear Brittany. It gets a grin out of Brittany, and she continues. "Mike told me you have a major crush on me, and since Santana's gone for the whole week, I thought maybe you and me could hook up."

Tina doesn't know what part of Brittany's idea to address first, so she turns around in her chair, an arm around the back of it to steady herself as she glares at Mike, who only holds up his hands innocently and smiles.

"I'm flattered," Tina admits as she turns around, knowing she's blushing as she folds her hands in her lap nervously. She'll get Mike back later, because—_hello_—Brittany is practically in her lap offering to hook up with her, despite the totally embarrassing way the offer came about. "But what about Santana?"

"She had to go visit her grandmother in, like, Argentina," Brittany explains, her face falling visibly as she sits back and slumps in her chair, and she looks so sad that Tina almost wants to take the question back.

"Santana's Argentinean?"

Brittany pauses, and she bites her lip as Tina sees the door to the glee room open over Brittany's shoulder. Mr. Schuester walks in, followed almost instantly by an enraged Ms. Sylvester who immediately scans the room for her missing Cheerio, and Tina swallows. It's not a compromising position, but Tina's pretty sure Ms. Sylvester wouldn't be pleased to find one of her Cheerios cozying up to a glee member, either.

"Um. Maybe I mixed the country up with _abuela_," Brittany admits as Tina tries to discreetly point in Ms. Sylvester's direction in warning. Oddly enough, Finn sees her, cocking an eyebrow in confusion until the situation dawns on him. He gets up from his seat two chairs down from Tina and grabs the back of Brittany's chair, turning it so that she's facing forward before he drags it back toward the bleachers so that she and Tina are sitting side by side.

Brittany is either oblivious to the entire moment or secretly enjoying it, and she turns in her chair to look at Tina for an answer like nothing happened as Ms. Sylvester knocks a stack of sheet music out of Mr. Schuester's hand before marching angrily out of the door, muttering Santana's last name threateningly.

"Okay," Tina whispers as Mr. Schuester sighs and bends to pick the papers off the floor with Rachel's help. Tina's attention shifts away from Brittany as rehearsal starts, but she feels Brittany's hand slide across her lap and take one of her own. She'll probably have to deal with an angry Santana once she gets back, but Tina thinks it might be worth it.

Artie, Mercedes, and Tina are sitting at a table together during lunch the next time Tina sees Mike. He saunters over with a tray in one hand and a smile on his face, and Tina waits until he's set the tray down on the table and slid onto the bench next to her before turning to the side and punching him—hard—in the arm. But the disadvantage of having football player friends is that nothing short of a three hundred pound lineman fazes them, and Mike brushes the incident off before picking up his sandwich.

"You can thank me now," he says, still grinning as he takes a disgustingly large bite, but Tina only rolls her eyes, pushing the food around on her plate with a fork as she slumps back in her chair.

"I can't believe you embarrassed me like that."

Mike adopts a hurt expression and claps a hand to his chest. "I risked life and limb and Santana Lopez to let Brittany know, and this is the thanks I get?"

"Thank you, Mike," Mercedes says for Tina from the other side of the table, and Mike smiles at Mercedes in appreciation. Tina has to admit that that _was_ a pretty big risk, so she looks up, chin propped on a fist, and makes a face before thanking Mike.

"Thanks, I guess."

Mike accepts it with a shake of his head, and once lunch is over, he slings an arm around Tina's shoulders as they walk to class together.

"Let me know how it goes," he says slyly.

"Pig," Tina sighs, ducking under his arm and reaching for the door to her classroom as Mike starts to walk backwards down the hall, waving.

"But I'm _your_ pig."

* * *

Tina stares down at the bowl of Frosted Flakes, willing herself not to reach for the carton and help herself to seconds even as she's tipping more cereal into her bowl. She has a spoonful of cereal up to her mouth as the doorbell rings, but Tina ignores it and starts eating because there's no reason to answer the doorbell on a weekday morning at six-thirty. But then it rings again, and then someone holds down the doorbell until Tina gets up and answers it.

She finds Brittany standing on her doorstep in her Cheerio uniform and jacket, a bag slung over her shoulder and her hands shoved in her pockets.

"Hi," Brittany says unnecessarily, and Tina looks around, confused, until she remembers that she's standing there in her pajamas with bed-head and lets Brittany in.

"Santana and I always walk to school together," Brittany explains as they take seats at the kitchen table, and Tina picks up her spoon again, eating as the other girl talks. "I thought we could do that, too."

"Sure," Tina says, trying to hide her frown in another spoonful of cereal. Not that she doesn't want to walk with Brittany, but it involves _walking_ all the way to school. And it's cold outside. And apparently, the Cheerios meet before school for extra intimidation from Ms. Sylvester before the school day starts, so Tina's going to be getting to school half an hour early the entire week.

It's enough to make Tina lose her appetite, and she gets ready to leave faster than normal because Brittany's waiting on her unmade bed, looking around her room and politely declining to mention that it's not very clean. She throws on a sweater before picking her bag up off the floor next to her desk and holding the bedroom door open for Brittany, and once they're outside and on the sidewalk, they fall into a comfortable silence. It's not particularly warm, and even after several minutes of walking, Tina still feels cold, so she drags her hood up over her head and crosses her arms, trying to keep her hands from freezing.

Brittany's hips bump against her own as she starts walking closer, and it would be reason to panic—or at least to clam up and try not to do anything stupid like choke on her own spit—except that Brittany laughs and reaches for her hood.

"Your sweater is cute," she says, stroking one of the cat ears, and Tina smiles, uncrossing her arms and bringing her hands together in front of her to rub them furiously.

"Thanks. But my hands are cold."

"Because your gloves have holes in them. Here," Brittany says authoritatively, reaching out and grabbing one of Tina's hands pointedly. She laces their fingers together, and then they're walking with hands held between them.

"Better?"

"Y-yeah."

Tina starts to understand the appeal of walking to school together.

During lunch, Brittany wanders over from the Cheerio table to sit with them, and Tina glances in Mike's direction helplessly as Brittany takes a seat on the bench next to her, hooking an ankle behind hers under the table and leaning up against her bodily as they eat. Well, the rest of them eat. Brittany just steals bits of food from everyone and tries to ignore the bright red WMHS water bottle sitting on the table in front of her.

"So, where's Santana?" Mercedes asks bluntly. It earns a quick scowl from Mike, but Brittany only grins and slips an arm through Tina's.

"Family business."

Mercedes arches an eyebrow, but Artie saves the situation, leaning forward and pointing at Brittany's water bottle, brow furrowed.

"Does that really work?" he asks, and Brittany picks up the bottle, staring at it before sliding it across the table to Artie.

"I wouldn't know since I always sneak food. Want to try it?"

Artie shakes his head quickly, pushing the water bottle back, and pretty soon that turns into a dare, and by the end of lunch, Artie's looking pale and clutching his stomach and Mike's chugging down a small carton of chocolate milk, trying to get the taste out of his mouth as Mercedes shakes her head and Brittany laughs at them, still holding on to Tina.

Hanging around after school and glee and waiting for Brittany to finish Cheerio practice gives Tina enough time to do most of her homework in the library. She needs it, because she and Brittany walk back to her house together, and if Tina was expecting Brittany to go home, it doesn't happen. They end up lying on their backs on the floor in the living room, ignoring the television and reaching into a big bowl of popcorn that sits between them as they stare at the ceiling and talk.

"Have you ever kissed a girl?" Brittany asks, and Tina reaches for more popcorn, fingers dipping into the bowl and sliding against buttery glass before hitting Brittany's hand. It's not the first time it's happened, and Tina thinks that maybe it was the reason behind Brittany wanting popcorn.

"What do you mean?" Tina asks, picking a piece of popcorn and bringing it to her mouth. Brittany rolls onto her side, propping herself up on an elbow, and Tina turns her head to look at her. Brittany's licking salt and butter off her fingertips suggestively and grinning, and Tina turns back to look at the ceiling again, trying not to blush.

"Mercedes told me I Kissed A Girl was your audition song."

"I haven't," Tina confesses. She doesn't bother asking if Brittany has, because the answer's pretty obvious.

Brittany slides the bowl out of her way and scoots closer, so that she's pressing against Tina's hip and Tina wants to move her arm and doesn't want to at the same time, because there's the swell of a breast pressing up against her shoulder as Brittany dips her head and kisses her.

Brittany's lips taste like butter, and it's a shame that she pulls away after only a few seconds.

"There," Brittany says with a smile, and then she rests her head on Tina's shoulder as she lies down again. "Now you have."

By the time Brittany leaves—a goodbye kiss in the hallway turning into more—and Tina finally crawls into bed, groaning inwardly at the time as she sets her alarm clock, she can understand why academics aren't at the top of any Cheerio to-do lists.

* * *

It's kind of a miracle that the next day during her second period, Tina takes the bathroom pass and wanders the halls, trying to waste as much time before she has to go back to class, and ducks into the same bathroom Brittany's loitering in.

Tina walks in and finds Brittany sitting up on a sink, talking to another Cheerio that's leaning up against the wall, and she avoids catching Brittany's eye before slipping into a stall. She doesn't use it—she couldn't if she even needed to, with two people outside whose conversation has just ended—but thankfully, the other Cheerio leaves, and Tina's able to creep out of the stall soon after.

"Ditching?" Brittany asks, swinging her feet in the air, and Tina smiles, shaking her head and holding up the bathroom pass. "I am."

"I can see that," Tina adds, and Brittany crooks a finger at her, smiling coyly. Tina takes a step forward, but she stops there, and Brittany rolls her eyes, leaning dangerously forward and reaching out to grab the front of Tina's shirt.

"Do you usually skip class in bathrooms?" Tina asks as Brittany tugs her forward, and she settles between Brittany's legs, resting her hands on the cold sink because the other option seems dangerous for a high school bathroom with a cheerleader that's already been caught in compromising situations in the Cheerio locker room.

"Yeah. Making out," Brittany clarifies, and she tilts her head to the side in thought as she loops her arms around Tina's neck, resting. "Sometimes we use the janitor's closet."

"We?" Tina breathes, hearing the catch in her own voice and hating it.

"Me and Santana," Brittany says bluntly, and then she shrugs and smiles before leaning forward so that her words are murmured against Tina's lips. "Sometimes me and Tina."

"Oh, really?" Tina whispers, and from somewhere, she gets the courage to move her hand from the sink to Brittany's leg as she kisses Brittany.

"Yeah," Brittany says once they pull apart, and she twirls a strand of Tina's hair around a finger before frowning and sitting up straight. "She has class right now, though."

But what Brittany says is contradicted by her hooking her ankles together behind Tina, trapping her as she bats her eyelashes. Tina looks toward the door, but there doesn't seem to be anyone else ditching class, so she gives in.

"I don't think she'll mind."

Several minutes later, Tina steps back and Brittany slides off the sink with a sigh, but once they're outside the bathroom, Brittany takes Tina's hand and grins. Before she knows it, Brittany's leading her down hallways and they're stumbling into a janitor's closet, flipping on the lights as they close the door. It's only in fifth period that Tina realizes she left the bathroom pass on one of the sinks and that Brittany is very good at getting her in trouble.

Mike calls her well past midnight.

"How's it going?" Mike asks, disturbingly cheerful for such a late hour, and Tina groans in response, trying hard not to fall facedown onto her pillow and start sleeping again.

"None of your business."

"It is so my business," Mike says indignantly. "I got you two together in the first place."

"That doesn't mean you get to know all the details," Tina mumbles, and Mike makes a noise that means Tina's right.

"I don't want to know _all_ of them," he finally says. "Just the hot details."

"We kissed, okay?" Tina says quickly, throwing him a bone because the faster the conversation's over, the faster she can get back to sleep. "Happy?"

"Mm-hm," Mike hums knowingly. "Sure."

"That's all we did, okay? I'm hanging up now."

"Bye, Tina."

"Bye, Mike."

* * *

Tina sits on the bleachers with Mike, terrified that Ms. Sylvester is going to point at them, the entire squad will look, and a threat will be issued via bullhorn, but Ms. Sylvester has better things to do like train a team of champions to notice two non-Cheerios sitting on the bleachers, and Tina's almost grateful that she's ignored for once. Mike, as a football player who's had practice alongside the Cheerios, is equally as grateful.

"Are you two coming tomorrow?" he asks, ripping open a bag of Skittles. He holds it carefully and offers some to Tina, who digs a hand in the bag and comes up with a fistful before they watch the Cheerios practice. She picks out the red ones to eat first, while Mike winks and picks the green.

"To what?" Tina asks, flicking a stray yellow Skittle at Mike. It bounces off his shoulder and pings as it falls to the bleachers, and Mike grins. "This better not be a dirty joke."

"No, the party."

Tina frowns as one of the Cheerios falls off the top of the pyramid, landing on one of the girls at the bottom. The bullhorn crackles with static, and out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Mike wince as Ms. Sylvester starts to berate her entire squad.

"Brittany didn't mention a party," Tina says softly, but oddly enough, Mike doesn't seem fazed.

"Then she either forgot, in which case I'm going to have to remind her again," Mike says cheerfully, "or she was already planning to take you anyway."

Tina arches an eyebrow as she pops another Skittle into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before speaking. From this distance, all the Cheerios kind of look the same, but she's finally spotted Brittany, and she watches as the Cheerio nimbly does a handspring. "You really think so? I'm not exactly popular party material."

"I know you two are going," Mike says with conviction, and Tina feels herself start to smile a little because she can't help it. She still doesn't really believe Mike until Cheerio practice ends and Brittany finally makes her way out of the locker room to find the two of them waiting nearby.

"You're coming tomorrow, right?" Mike asks pointedly, and Brittany smiles and latches onto Tina's arm, dragging her closer. Tina tries to avoid Mike's unsubtle winking because, _okay_, he's right. It doesn't mean he has to gloat.

"Duh. We're both going."

"Cool," Mike says casually, and then with a wave, he's walking away, leaving them alone together. "See you two tomorrow."

They go over to Brittany's house for once, and of all the things Tina would expect Brittany to do once her bedroom door is shut, kissing her is not one of them because Tina's not quite sure who exactly is in the house, if anyone, and Brittany has a hand on the small of her back and another on her shoulder as she tugs Tina toward her bed.

"What are we doing?" Tina asks uncertainly as she's pushed onto the bed. She bounces on the mattress, and Brittany frowns down at her, kicking off her shoes before straddling her hips.

"You don't have a problem with this or something, do you?" Brittany asks softly, and Tina shakes her head.

"Of c-course not. Why would I?"

"Because you're so shy," Brittany says with a smile. For some reason, that hurts more than it probably should, and Tina tries to look away, but there's a hand on her cheek and Brittany's looking her in the eyes seriously.

"Don't do that," Brittany whispers, and she presses a kiss to her cheek before sitting back on her shins. "It's not bad. I think it's cute."

Brittany's top catches on her ponytail as she pulls it over her head, and she winces, nose scrunched and eyes shut, until she untangles herself and lets it drop from her hand onto the bed before letting down her ponytail. Her hair spills over her shoulders as she looks at Tina expectantly, smiling.

Swallowing dryly, Tina reaches out and lays her hand almost tentatively on Brittany's thigh, and that's as far as she gets before looking down at the comforter and wondering just how awkward this is going to get. But then Brittany's hand is over her own, guiding her hand higher, and if Tina were to look up, she'd be pretty sure Brittany would still be smiling.

So Tina leans forward, and somehow she has Brittany bending back down onto the bed under her and they're kissing, and the awkwardness isn't totally gone but it's better than it was ten seconds ago, and that's a start, at least.

It gets better, but that hurts more because Tina has to remind herself it's only for the week, and tomorrow's Friday.

* * *

Brittany holds up a pink dress, and Mercedes starts to laugh from where she's sitting at Tina's desk.

"Girl, you're going to look like salmon," Mercedes says, and that's all they're able to understand before she starts laughing again. Tina bites her lip, fingering the material, and shrugs apologetically.

"I don't think this is going to fit," Tina says cautiously, but Brittany rolls her eyes and shoves the dress in Tina's arms before pointing to her bedroom door and down the hallway.

"Go to the bathroom and put it on," Brittany commands, and Tina looks at Mercedes, hoping that she'll help plead her case, but Mercedes only holds both her thumbs up and laughs again. Tina hears them slap each other high fives as soon as she's out the door, and for that, she stalls for an extra five minutes. When she finally gets the dress on and opens the bathroom door, she takes several deep breaths that are supposed to be calming but only make her more nervous as she heads back to her room.

"You look so pretty!" Brittany exclaims, her hands clasped together under her chin as she perches on the edge of Tina's bed, and Tina smiles nervously, appreciating that Mercedes has finally stopped laughing.

"Yeah," Mercedes agrees with a smirk, and that's good enough for Tina. Brittany stands, heading for the dresser she left her purse on top of, and Mercedes vacates her seat, motioning for Tina to sit there. Tina does so warily, and Mercedes flicks on the desk lamp as Brittany makes her way over with an eyeliner pencil in one hand and a mascara wand in the other.

"I can do that myself," Tina protests weakly, but Brittany shakes her head as Mercedes nods behind her.

"I'm sorry, Tina," Mercedes apologizes, taking a seat on Tina's bed and watching as Brittany leans closer, baring the pencil first. "I can't let you go wearing Goth panda make-up."

"Ouch."

"She's just jealous," Brittany frowns, shooting a look at Mercedes over her shoulder before turning back to Tina.

"_Huh_," Mercedes breathes out dramatically, and she flicks her hair over her shoulder before grabbing her things and heading for the bathroom. Brittany takes the opportunity to press a kiss to Tina's lips before tilting her chin up with a finger and squinting as she tells Tina to close her eyes and starts applying eyeliner.

It's only another hour later that they're all ready, and Tina wobbles up the steps to Matt's house, one hand grasping at Brittany's arm and the other gripping the railing tightly as Mercedes leads the way. As soon as they're in, Mercedes breaks off from the group to find Kurt and Brittany heads into the kitchen, so Tina follows her. Puck smirks and Mike grins as Brittany gives them each a hug before jumping up on a counter and sitting, and Tina waves before standing next to Brittany, feeling Brittany reach out and play with the ends of her hair that she wore down and loose as they talk over the music.

"You're not a Cheerio," Puck says, pointing at Tina and tilting his cup up to his mouth before chugging, but Mike rolls his eyes, punching him in the arm and making Puck splutter. "What? It's a cool party, dude. What's she doing here?"

"She's my date," Brittany states flatly, and Tina tries to look anywhere but at Puck or Mike as she feels Brittany start to braid her hair unevenly, fingertips playing over the nape of her neck. "It totally counts."

"Doesn't count unless you kiss," Pucks retorts with a smirk, and Brittany sighs heavily behind Tina as she taps Tina's shoulder. Turning, Tina looks up to see Brittany shrug, trying to hide a smile.

"Want to shut them up?"

Tina peers over her shoulder as she rests her hands on the countertop on either side of Brittany. Mike's got an unreadable expression on his face and Puck has his phone out, smirking like he just won a year's worth of free dip as he readies his camera.

"Okay," Tina agrees quietly, but no one seems to hear over the noise and the music, so she repeats herself a little louder before Brittany leans down and kisses her hard to a hoot and a catcall.

Madonna and Simone de Beauvoir would not approve, but Tina decides that kissing Brittany kind of trumps that even if she would much rather be watching this than doing it. Brittany's fingers tangle in her hair, drawing her closer, and one of Tina's hands ends up Brittany's waist before she pulls back, watching Brittany's cheeks flush pink as she licks her lips unconsciously.

"Do-over," Puck shouts, but he's laughing and showing the picture on his phone to Mike, so Tina ignores him, turning around and focusing on the fact that Brittany's hands are running over her bare shoulders, massaging gently as Tina settles against the countertop.

When the party's over, Mercedes gets a ride back from Kurt, so Tina drives Brittany home. Brittany leans over the armrest of her seat to peck Tina on the cheek, and she's got her phone open in her hand as she lets herself out of the car.

"Goodnight," Tina says with a wave, and Brittany waves back as she shuts the car door and heads for her house, texting as she walks. It's not hard to guess who it is that Brittany's texting because Tina knows Santana's flight gets in tonight, if it hasn't already landed.

"See you Monday," Brittany calls cheerfully over her shoulder, and Tina almost wonders if she says that on purpose.

* * *

"Don't look," Artie says quietly as he turns around in his wheelchair next to her, but of course, Tina looks at him, closing her locker door. Artie winces as her gaze travels from him to the rest of the people in the hall, and then Tina realizes what he was talking about. Brittany and Santana are the end of the hall, walking together with their arms linked and talking.

"I think you should run now," Artie offers, but Tina shakes her head, eyes never leaving the two Cheerios as they make their way through the crowd. Santana's scowling as usual, eyes flicking over people like she's looking for something, and Brittany's giggling against her shoulder, smiling at Santana like Santana's her whole world.

"Santana's going to pummel you once she sees you," Artie says flatly, shrinking down in his seat, but Tina shakes her head as the two girls walk right by them. Santana seems to find what she was looking for, and they hear her call out Mike's name as Brittany tells Santana to stop walking so fast.

"No, she won't," Tina whispers, although she was only half sure that Santana wouldn't call her out on hooking up with Brittany.

"How did you know?" Artie asks incredulously once the two Cheerios are far away, but Tina shrugs in response, handing her books to Artie as she takes the handles of his wheelchair and they head to first period.

Brittany probably didn't tell Santana about last week, and that's fine with Tina. The less Santana knows she exists, the better. But Brittany walks right past her and Artie, and _that_ hurts. Tina can't find it in herself to be mad at Brittany, though. It's pretty much impossible to hold a grudge against her, and really, Tina tells herself, she shouldn't have let herself think that she actually meant anything at all to Brittany.


End file.
